He regarded the sunbrowned,
careless youths with the genuine affection of a brother. Many of them
were as young as he or younger, but they were now veterans of battle and
march. Napoleon's soldiers themselves could not have boasted of more
experience than they.
He was coming to the last link in the steel chain, and the colonel of a
regiment, an old man, warned him to be careful as he approached the river.
"Southern sharpshooters are among the ravines and thickets," he said.
"They fired on our lads about dawn and then escaped easily in the thick
cover."
"Thank you, sir," said Dick, "I'll be on my guard." Yet he did not feel
the presence of danger. Youth perhaps becomes more easily hardened in
war than middle age, or perhaps it thinks less of consequences. The
Union cannon, many of great weight and power, had begun already to
fire upon Vicksburg. Huge shells and shot were rained upon the city.
Pemberton had two hundred guns facing the river and the army, but to
spare his ammunition they made little reply.
Dick looked back now and then. He saw flakes of fire on the northern
horizon, puffs of smoke and the curving shells.
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